Monday, July 16, 2012

Magnificent satire.

Okay, so it seems clear enough that there is a concerted effort to make our world so absurd that satire would logically just wither away from total irrelevance. I find myself commenting about this all the time.

And yet, some pesky humans--bless their seditious, contrarian hearts--manage to adapt nonetheless. The following solid gold nugget from Patrick at Popehat, guesting over at The Agitator: Screwtape Wept. It begins:

My Dear Wormwood,

As discussed in my last letter, your patient’s decision to join the
police department seemed a mixed development at best. It is true that
Hell follows no law save the most ancient, “Eat or be eaten.” But as a
general rule we want to discourage the creatures from obeying any laws,
even of their own devising. Despite the best efforts of our most
fiendish disputants, we in the Lowerarchy are unable, as yet, to remove
from their laws all that reeks of the Enemy, such as justice,
temperance, chastity, and respect for their fellow vermin. Still, we
have made great strides in this age toward bending those who enforce
the laws, such as your patient, to the commendable vices of cruelty,
corruption, graft, influence-peddling, and the forsaking of oaths. So I
did not discourage your patient’s occupation, as long as he could be
steered onto a path which would eventually bring him to Our Father’s
House.

Let's just say it does not end there.

Now I haven't actually read The Screwtape Letters, myself; it is only through this homage that I even found out about CS Lewis' original. (It's now on the list.) But, like all good satire, this one is self-encapsulated on its own, and it's funny.

The artistic level of ridiculing humor targeting the state is observably on the rise, as is the general volume. It's still well underground, but it's alive and growing. Hell, maybe some day, when more people have had enough and are ready to hear it, it'll actually "go mainstream" or something crazy like that.